COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team started its 2019 season with a split against Northwestern – another NCAA Tournament team – Friday night. CSB won the first game 5-0 behind a six-inning, one-hit performance from sophomore pitcher Ally Hjort before falling 4-3 in the second game at the SJU Dome in Collegeville.
 
CSB was scheduled to play two more games Saturday at the Rochester Dome, but the team will not be making the trip due to forecasted snow and ice and poor road conditions. Those games against UW-La Crosse and Nebraska Wesleyan have been canceled.
 
Friday night, Hjort picked up where she left off last season. She walked one batter in the second inning, gave up a single in the fourth and struck out six batters in six innings of work to earn her first win of the year. CSB, on the other hand, scored a pair of runs in the first thanks to RBI singles from Kendra Swanson and Madison Mikolich, and added two more runs in the fifth on another RBI single from Mikolich and a Northwestern error.
 
CSB wrapped up scoring in the sixth when Kate Deming tripled and then scored on a Northwestern throwing error. Emilie Antony went 3-for-4 to lead CSB, which had 10 total hits. Mikolich went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Claire Boatman also had two hits. First year pitcher Grace Gilmore threw the final inning and struck out one batter.
 
Deming tripled again to start the second game and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Antony to put CSB up 1-0, but the Eagles (1-1) scored an unearned run in the second and had an RBI single in the third to go up 2-1. An RBI sac fly from Kendra Swanson tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth, but Northwestern answered with an RBI single of its own to go up 3-2 in the fifth.
 
Saint Benedict tied the game once more in the sixth when Antony singled then scored on a second sac fly from Swanson, but Northwestern took the lead for good in the seventh on a walk and an RBI double. Kennedy Kehr singled to start the bottom of the seventh, and pinch runner Jordyn Swoboda moved to second on a sac bunt from Codi Zwack, but was thrown out at third. Deming doubled to put a runner in scoring position, but a fly out ended the game.
 
Deming went 3-for-4 to pace CSB, which had nine hits. Boatman added two more hits and Kehr went 3-for-3 with a double. Alex Smith threw the first five innings and gave up three runs on five hits with five strikeouts. Gilmore threw the final two innings and took the loss after giving up the winning run on two hits with two strikeouts.
 
After Saturday's cancelations, the next time CSB takes the field will be March 3 in Florida. Saint Benedict takes on Illinois College and Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on its first day of its annual spring break trip.